Once a film's primary theater runs were done, it didn't go away, there were distributors that held prints in 16mm and 35mm that could be rented for revival showings or private presentation. My dorm in college and the student union showed "catalog" titles (movies not seen in theaters in a few years) every weekend on 16mm.
We had a theater like that that until the maybe early 90s put out a calendar every month, and some days had as many unique films being shown as the number of scheduled slots in the day, plus a midnight movie (which was usually Rocky Horror, but occasionally something else). If you had the stamina (and I think some stealth, they didn't want you free-riding each performance), you could literally show up for a 12:30 screening and see 4-5 films.
Besides home video bringing this to an end, I think what also hurt it was the increasing sophistication of theater commercial presentations which limited the availability of "basic" 35mm prints with magnetic stereo audio. There were just fewer prints available for lower-end projection systems, with the film industry pushing Dolby audio and other gimmicks that required more than just a basic projection/audio setup.
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Checkman (29)
4 years ago
I remember those days. I attended college in the Eighties (Boise State University; Class of 1990) and for my first couple of years I would go see movies at the Student Union Building every Saturday. The door fee was a staggering $1.00 and they would show everything from "High Sierra" with Bogart to "Brazil". All those "cool" movies that were so beloved by the college student geek crowd (of which I was a member of). Sometimes one of the professors (sociology, history, philosophy, political science) would give a short lecture before the movie or lead a discussion after the movie was finished. I wasn't cool enough to appreciate the fact that only nerds are watching old movies in the student union building on a Saturday night The first woman who accepted my invitation (there were a couple who turned me down and a couple who gracefully bowed out) to one of the Saturday viewings ended up marrying me. The movie was "The Sting" and it was March 12, 1988. We're still together thirty-two years later. One of the things I remember very fondly about college. Our daughter (CLass of 2017) never experienced that during her time as a student. Technology took it away.
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Gary O. (997)
4 years ago
We're still together thirty-three years later. One of the things I remember very fondly about college. Our daughter (CLass of 2017) never experienced that during her time as a student. Technology took it away.
That's great, Mr C!! Congratulations.
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mobocracy (845)
4 years ago
Ha! I had almost the exact same experience in the exact same time frame.
I think the student union charged us $3, though, and the girl who went with me saw "Easy Rider" and while we dated 3 years, we didn't get married. We did see quite a few movies there, though, probably most of the early Wood Allen ones.
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Checkman (29)
4 years ago
My wife rolled her eyes when I told her last night about my posting. She reminded me that it was she who initiated the conversation and that she had to put down several obvious "hints" that she was available for a date before I finally asked her out. Luckily she had never seen "The Sting" and actually had a goodtime. Whew.
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